Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, except my pen. I own my pen. Wait, this is my best friends pen. Never mind. I really own nothing. *cries in the corner*
Harry: *casts silencio on GK*
AN: Anyways, on with the story since I have no reviews to answer! Although, if you're curious... Umbra Mortis is latin for Shadows of Death.
Harry had his arm wrapped around Daphne's waist. It wasn't something he had knowingly done and when he realized it, it gave him pause. However, a quick look back showed the entire group appeared in this way and it momentarily confused him before he decided to ignore it.
As they entered into the castle, he and Hermione both let out a gasp. Harry didn't know for a fact what her gasp was over, but his own was about what he just happened to hear inside of his mind.
Hello, my heir. You have returned.
Harry didn't even know how to reply. For that matter, who was even talking to him? He straightened what facts he knew and decided to venture a guess. Castle?
Yes, young heir. My name is Arx.
Well, okay then. That was weird. Anyways… Alright, we can discuss this later if we need to discuss something.
Nothing needs to be discussed. Know I will protect you, your sister and those you deem worthy. The wards are now yours and your sisters.
Harry just smirked. One blow against Dumbledork? Check! He chuckled and Daphne glanced up at him. He hugged her tighter with his arm and they approached to where they stood outside the doors to what they could only assume was the Great Hall.
He didn't bother listening as some witch, he thought it was the McGonagall he had heard about but really didn't know or care, rattled off some such nonsense about houses and points and such. A few minutes of boring talking later, she left.
Ronald Weasley took this moment to make more of an ass out of himself that he already had.
"Potter, I knew it was you. Yuck, you're actually touching a slimy snake."
Harry raised an eyebrow as Daphne tensed. "Go away, Weasel. Or I'll tell everyone about how mummy and daddy need someone to pay you to make friends just so they have money to buy your pathetic second hand robes."
Hermione stepped up to his side, her arm still looped through Blaise's gracefully. "Oh, but Harry. I think you accidentally already did." She giggled what was very clearly a fake "oops was that me" giggle. Weasley's face went red.
"No one asked you, you filthy little mudblood."
Harry stepped forward into Weasley's face, dropping Daphne's arm as his eyes darkened with hate. "That is my sister to whom you are speaking Weasel."
Weasley looked at his sister. The relation was obvious. Hair that was as black as night with red streaks through it that looked natural and were, bright emerald green eyes, porcelain skin, perfectly thin, and an air that suggested death.
The goblins had gotten rid of the appearance changing magic.
Weasley didn't know that though. All he knew was the girl he'd seen on the train with Potter when he went back by was the same girl as this one but they looked so much different.
"You'll get in trouble for doing mag—"
The witch came back out and dropped a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back into the group. Harry silently returned to his place as well, wrapping his arm tightly around Daphne again.
"We are ready for you now." With those words, the doors opened. Harry supposed it was probably supposed to be really cool, but all it really appeared as was wandless magic. Big deal—a witch that was likely at least 50 could do it….he was eleven and he could do it without an issue.
Even so, they followed her between the tables in the Great Hall to the front, stopping just before the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a stool and a hat. Harry kept his face expressionless.
"We all go to Slytherin. Am I understood?"
The mumbled, "Yes, my King," was clear obedience. It was only mumbled because Harry's statement had been softly spoken as well.
"Tracy Davis!" Tracy went forward. Harry smirked at the way she did. Her head was held high and all appearance of nerves were completely gone. The instant the hat touched her head it's decision was made.
"SLYTHERIN." Tracy kept her face expressionless, copying Harry's own facial expression to do it. She didn't have as much practice. Nevertheless, she got up with all the grace of a pureblooded heiress and sat at the Slytherin table. She left the two spots at either space closest to the upper years open.
Several names were called out and around her. Any Slytherins she artfully placed in such a way that the court had their places perfectly centered the way they would wish.
"Daphne Greengrass!"
Daphne moved from Harry with ease she didn't feel as she made her way gracefully to the hat and stool. She sat on the stool, crossing her ankles immediately under it the way she had been taught from a young age.
"Hmm, seems to me someone really wants Slytherin."
"You will put me in Slytherin or I will laugh as you burn."
"You won't burn me brat."
"I won't. But Harry is the heir. He can and will. You will send all of his chosen to Slytherin."
After giving the hat a list, it called out its decision.
"SLYTHERIN!" Daphne smirked easily and took her place directly across from Tracy. Harry would sit beside her and Hermione across from him. She glanced at the upper year that sat next to where Harry would be.
"Adrian Pucey. Why won't you sit next to me? Scared like Davis is of Flint?"
"That space belongs to Harry on this night and the one beside Tracy belongs to Hermione."
"Who?"
"You'll see."
With that she turned around. Now she noticed that Draco had come and sat down along with Theodore and Pansy. That meant it was Hermione's turn; the unknown interesting turn.
"Hermione Potter."
The hall went quiet as Hermione made her way to the hat. It didn't even touch her head before it screamed Slytherin to the hall. The same occurred with Harry and, a few people later, again with Blaise. Apparently her words of warning had some effect on the stupid hat.
She leaned silently into Harry's side as she waited impatiently and the moment the food appeared on the table every member of the court looked to Harry for approval. As soon as the nod came, they were already eating.
"Welcome to Slytherin. In Slytherin we have one rule. Don't get caught. A house trait is to be sly and another is cunning. I expect you to exemplify both traits. Outside of this common room, you stick together. If one of our own needs an alibi, you provide. No one else will be on our side thus is why we stick together. Inside this common room…returning years you know who you bow to even if the person itself has yet to be decided. First years, the Slytherin King is the person that, first of all, no one thinks I know about and, second of all, is usually the person with the most power—or just the person who instills the most fear. Breakfast begins being served at six in the morning. Schedules are passed out at eight. Classes begin at nine. Goodnight." With that, Severus Snape, their housemaster, swirled out of the common room.
Everyone looked at the first years. Harry stared back at the older years and silently went and sat in the chair no one ever sat in. Except for the King.
An upper year, a fifth year Harry thought to himself, was the first person to open his mouth. "You can't just sit there!"
"Are you willing to challenge me?" Harry's voice was cold as he stared at the student.
Even as he spoke, the rest of his chosen court simply took up their own positions. Daphne sat on the arm of his chair, her legs stretched across his lap in such a way that if she slid down, she would be seated sideways on his lap. Hermione sat on the couch directly to his right with Blaise at her side. Draco and Pansy sat next to them. Theodore and Tracy took up the couch across from their fellow court members. Only Daphne and Harry sat in any kind of leadership position.
The boy stared at him. "Obviously."
Harry's magic lashed out, darkening the room to pitch black and somewhere within the dark there was a scream followed me a grunt. The lights flickered back on. Harry was pleased to see none of his court members showed any reaction, especially Daphne.
The boy who had chosen to open his mouth, however….he was unconscious on the floor. It was clear he'd fallen into Marcus Flint, who must have been the grunt, as Flint was covered in blood.
Flint looked at the student in slight disgust. "Bletchley. Take him to the hospital wing."
Harry raised an eyebrow at Flint and his fingers twitched. Flint wasn't actually stupid and immediately fell to one knee, his right hand fisted across his chest.
"If it pleases you, my king."
"Tell the good matron a Gryffindor tripped him but you don't remember which one because it was a first year. The first year with the red hair—you think he was a Weasley."
Bletchley and Flint both nodded before Flint rose again and they half carried, half dragged the boy from the common room.
"Any other challengers?" Daphne spoke the words this time, smirking as she mindlessly played with Harry's hair.
The common room, nearly as one, shook their heads and bowed as Flint before them had.
Harry laughed. It was a half chuckle, half cackle. This was so simple.
"Dismissed." As though the word was followed by the demons from hell, the common room emptied.
"Well that was quick."
"Boy you are dismissed as well. Go to the dorms, do not go in any yet. Girls, go with them. Hermione, you will stay."
Hermione's eyes met his evenly as she nodded one time and one time only. The others did as he said without questioning it even with a moment of hesitation. It was a testament. Either to fear or respect and he didn't know which.
When they were gone he put up a privacy ward he had read about.
"Yes Harry?"
"What did they do to you?"
"What?" She tried to look confused.
"The muggles Hermione. The filthy muggles."
"John and Kristine?"
"If those are the two that adopted you, then yes Hermione—John and Kristine. Now what did they do to you?"
She dropped her head and he moved to kneel in front of her. "You need to tell me, sister."
She smiled softly, her first true emotion since entering the castle. "They hit me…a lot. They burned me, they called me nasty things, they hurt me. And when they found out I had magic….John used his belt and tried to beat it out of me. The only reason I got to the train station is I grabbed my stuff and did that apparating thing I'd read about. I'd been there before so it was mostly easy."
Harry growled, the growl filled with hate. "We will take care of them at Christmas. It can be their Christmas present." He smirked, and at that moment, even his smile was filled with a special brand of crazy—the evil brand.
Harry had called upon the castle to give them an entire suite of rooms. Really it was like a miniature house with its own common room. However, it was so much better. Each student had their own bedroom. Each bedroom had a private bathroom and walk-in closet. There was a pool room that literally housed one giant pool and four hot tubs inside. There was their own library that was apparently connected to the Hogwarts library—even the restricted section. They would never need to worry about curfews or permission when it came to the library. There was even a kitchen.
All in all, his court was very happy he had chosen them. These kinds of accommodations weren't just handed to everyone. Actually, come to think of it, there was no history of the kind being offered to anyone.
They slept peacefully that night. Although before they went to sleep, the girls all ordered several mail order clothing catalogues. Apparently, with more space, they planned to buy more clothes.
And, though Hermione certainly had her own vaults from her inheritances, Harry had given her access to the Potter family vault, even going so far as to use his Lord Potter status to unlock the trust vault that had been set up for her so that they both had one.
They all planned to look into the mail order catalogues tomorrow since, though they got their schedules tomorrow, it was Saturday and there were no classes.
"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death…"
Harry rolled his eyes from his seat and, following a nudge to her side, he and Daphne just started in on their own potion. The court, though they saw the disrespect, followed their King, expecting him to know what he was doing and not steer them wrong. He had already paired them up so as to make sure no Slytherin failed, so it was clear he had to be knowledgeable in potions.
Weasel, unfortunately, couldn't keep his mouth shut it seemed. No matter how much he really should learn to. "Why are you letting them start?! You didn't tell us to!"
Snape glanced at the Slytherin half of the room with an air of dismissiveness already. "Potter, name any two facts about Wolfsbane."
Harry spoke without looking up from where he was measuring his own ingredients while Daphne sliced some caterpillars. Apparently she liked cutting things. He'd have to keep that in mind….back on track, "It's the same plant as Monkshood and Aconite and fact two: it's the main ingredient in the Wolfsbane potion."
"And what can you tell me about said potion?"
"The werewolf in question has to drink a dose of it each day leading up to the full moon. It tastes and smells absolutely foul. It smokes slightly even after cooling off—although it is meant to be drank while still hot. It gives off a faint blue smoke when it is finished brewing; if you've brewed it correctly. Last but not least, it is extremely difficult to make."
"What difficulty level would you say?"
"Above NEWTs for sure. Really no one but someone with a potions mastery should brew it as it is incredibly….explosive." He smirked, a slightly evil smile before finishing his measuring and his statement. "A master like you, Potions Master Snape."
Snape smirked as he looked at the Weasel. "That's why Weasley. Ten points from Gryffindor for yelling out in class."
The Slytherins all smirked but easily continued their potion.
The Gryffindors all grumbled as they started…except for one. Harry caught the eyes of that one before mumbling to Draco who sat next to him and Daphne with Pansy as his partner. "Who is that?"
"Neville Longbottom. His parents were tortured into insanity by my Aunt Bellatrix, her husband and his brother. All three were in Azkaban but now Bellatrix is out and living at the manor. My mother tells me if the Lord of Black were to dismiss the marriage, all the compulsions and what not would leave her and she'd be back to the loving sister she apparently was at one point."
"I want him brought into the fold." Harry smirked. "Tracy. After classes today, you and Theo will go make friends with Longbottom. He seems vaguely interested in my court and I'm not sure of my opinion on that. Bring him to me by dinner, understood?" Everything was spoken just above a whisper as he leaned against their work station. They both nodded obediently.
"Good."
Neville, although he knew his grandmother would largely disagree, recognized power when he saw it. It was this trait that almost put him in Slytherin. It was his true house he knew. But he could already tell the destination of one Harry Potter by the time they went into the Great Hall at the sorting ceremony. So when he came to the hat as his turn, he had demanded Gryffindor.
From there, it was a very simply task to keep up the shy, timid, and stupid façade that he had become so good at displaying. That morning in potions, however, was the first sign he had given anyone to his difference from the house of lions—and he had shown it to none other than Harry Potter.
While that might damage getting Harry Potter to accept him into what was clearly an already formed court, it also might help it. So as Neville left his class in history of magic and made for the tower, he was filled with both hope and a sense of fear. He hated the unknown; really and truly.
When two people dropped into step on either side of him, he fought hard to give no reaction. He recognized them both as part of the court but couldn't remember the name of either one.
"I'm Tracy Davis, that's Theo Nott."
Well, at least he no longer had that issue. "Neville Longbottom."
"We know who you are. You have caught the attention of our King."
"Have I?" Neville silently rejoiced.
"Yes."
"And does he want to see me?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"Why not?" With that the two snakes turned, leading the way to the dungeons.
"Neville, I'll ask you this straight out. Why do you want to join my court? I can see that you do so don't bother lying."
"To get revenge on those who would rather push my down, my King."
Harry stared at the boy in front of him. "Acceptable. Who might that be?"
"My gran and my uncle, my King."
Harry smirked. "Fine. You may join my court. You can also help look for other likely people. It will be good to have one in Gryffindor. Tell the Weasley Twins I wish to see them at their earliest convenience."
Neville did the, by now commonplace, kneel with his fist across his chest and left, pausing only long enough for Pansy to give him the password to the common room at Harry's nod.
"Well that was surprising."
Daphne nodded for a moment before rising from where she had sat on the couch and returning to her earlier location on her King's lap.
"It was. What are we doing for Halloween?"
"I think a feast in our private quarters sounds nice. The whole court, what do you think?"
"Sounds nice." Her words were muffled slightly as she had turned into his shoulder to go back to sleep. Neville's arrival had woken her from the nap she wanted before dinner.
"Night princess; I'll wake you for dinner."
She nodded and easily fell back asleep.
AN: So, I had extra time today and decided to utilize it by writing a second chapter for Umbra Mortis. This one is the longest chapter so far for either story so I hope you guys like it.
Harry: Personally, I think I'm too nice.
GK: You broke a boy.
Daphne: It was deserved! He was challenging my Harry!
GK: Spoiler! You ruined one of my pairings!
Daphne: *raises an eyebrow* Cause me sleeping on him wasn't obvious?
GK: Shut up Greengrass or I'll break you guys up.
Daphne: How?
GK: Harry can cheat on you with Lavender Brown.
Harry: Oi! I have more taste than that!
Weasley: Hey, I think she's hot!
Harry, Daphne, and GK: …..thank you for proving the point.
GK: You're right Harry. You have WAY better taste.
Daphne: Wow, you act like it wasn't obvious. I mean, he's a Slytherin.
GK: I'll leave that one alone.
Harry: Tell!
GK: Fine…Daphne's lying in bed trying to sleep, so do you plan to Slytherin?
H and D: *facepalms*
